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Just a heads up that The Entertainer have Pop Vinyls if that's your thing for £6:66. Too bad Kane hasn't got a new one for that price and they include the WWE ones. I got Finn Balor and the Chase Variant of Iron Sheik. Already got the regular one of him, but I spotted that and had to get it as well. Always good when a Chase makes it to the shelf rather than stay in the stock room and be destined for eBay which is what I think happens most of the time. The comic stores usually bump up the price.

This is episode 2 from last week. We’re joined by the human museum that is Turn Chuckle. A man who is genetically 1990’s merchandise and was forged in the 1993 WWF magazine catalogue. His knowledge is incredible.

We also interview Kev85Hasbro, a well respected dude from the collecting community. We discuss all things Hasbro related, figure lines, the Mattel retro series, the rise of ‘protos’ and whether collectors are being scammed.

We’ll be uploading part 1 later in the week (recording issues being ironed out).

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Firstly, Zack has been on another spending spree, which isn’t a surprise really, he can afford to spend whatever he likes on figures, which isn’t a shock and now that his Wrestling Figure YouTube show will be providing him with an additional tidy bit of pocket money. He can realistically buy any figure he likes (he could anyway) but now I guess his hobby pays for itself.

The thing is, he’s been collecting ‘prototypes’. Now usually, with prototypes, there’s a bit of a back story, such as where it’s come from, who owns it, who owned it and corroborating stories. It’s usually out there for all to see as that’s what drives the sale, or, it’s legitimacy is questioned. Even then you are realistically just trusting that established collectors are telling the truth and aren’t just in it for an occasional big pay day. I mean let’s be honest, it’s REALLY easy to make a lot of these figures as customs, too easy in fact, so all you have to go on is the word of the seller, or those corroborating and pushing the story / eBay link. There’s no other way to prove it though. It’s simply a painted plastic/resin figure.

Understandably, a few long term collectors think that some things are simply too good to be true. A lot has been ‘unearthed’ in the last few years, this thread has even documented some of it.

Whether it’s prototypes, 2ups, casts, molds, or whatever, a lot has been ‘found’ and Sold on eBay in recent years.

Now, in January 2017, Zack tweeted the following:

He was referring to these amongst others.

In less than 2 years, these two items have appeared and sold on eBay (in last few days).

Zack was the winning bidder on the Doink figure. Now, a few people including myself questioned the legitimacy, mainly because little evidence had been presented. However, Zack seems to believe that there is indeed evidence to prove their legitimacy, which he plans to discuss on his Wrestling Figure Radio show.

I’m highly intrigued as to what this evidence is, as so far, little has been shared.

Now no one is fully sure who is behind it, if it’s true. However, a collector on another forum pointed out that the trademark registration address for LJN is linked to the same/similar one know for the chalk line brand. They make those really vivid retro tracky tops etc.

This is interesting and even more so if it’s David Goldberg who is involved. He pretty much brought Chalk Line back from the dead. Russell Athletic bought Chalk Line in mid 90’s, let it die off and Davids team walked in & revived it with its WWE & Disney deals etc.
I believe it was David who did the same with Ewing Athletic (the Patrick Ewing sports shoes).

So he has a history of taking over dying or defunct brands and injecting them with new life. (If it’s him).

Be interesting to see if this is s one off, or if something bigger is planned for the Shahid Khan promotion thing.

Edited December 6 by Kaz Hayashi

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Love the old logo as well. Wrestling seems to be built on bringing back a certain period of time at the minute. There's a big wave of old stuff people want to see again. MLW is basically WCW Saturday Night from the early 90s.

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I’m no figure expert/historian - I’ve never even taken a photo of a Hasbro holding a fork.

But those Doink/Lex figures are just repaints of the mass-produced figures, aren’t they? So ever if they WERE repainted by someone who worked for Hasbro as a ‘prototype’, it’s still just the normal figure someone took a paintbrush to, surely?

Spending shitloads on a prototype of a figure that never came out of Diesel/Lawler/Mantaur I could understand, but this seems insane...

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I’m no figure expert/historian - I’ve never even taken a photo of a Hasbro holding a fork.

But those Doink/Lex figures are just repaints of the mass-produced figures, aren’t they? So ever if they WERE repainted by someone who worked for Hasbro as a ‘prototype’, it’s still just the normal figure someone took a paintbrush to, surely?

Spending shitloads on a prototype of a figure that never came out of Diesel/Lawler/Mantaur I could understand, but this seems insane...

The argument is that at least in Doinks case it’s a repaint and a mock- up that Hasbro used to show WWF “hey this is the idea for a new doink”.

This doink is apparently part resin and part plastic, much like other apparent ‘legit’ prototypes. Even his Brutus has still be brought in to question as it’s apparently not 100% the same as the officially graded AFA proto figure. Zack now claims that not all protos can be identical due to being hand painted, which I fully understand, but then how do you go around proving it’s legit then? In my opinion, with a watertight back story of who owned it and when, back to a Hasbro employee. That’s the only way as far as I’m concerned, or you can simply believe. Fair enough.

Now I don’t argue the fact that this ‘could’ be a real piece. My argument (which some of his followers don’t seem to grasp) is that I, and other customisers can make a part resin and part plastic custom Hasbro figure. I too can say “don’t ask for documentation so don’t ask for any, but I got it from an old Hasbro dude”. That’s what the seller did. No back story at all, nothing to prove it’s legit.

That’s what they don’t seem to understand. But saying that, Zack can seemingly convince himself it’s real, do a show about it, get lots of views, convince his followers it’s real... then it’s real I guess, regardless of an authentic timeline of where it’s come from.

He might have some unquestionable proof it’s real that he will apparently share on his show. I hope more than anyone that he is able to shut me up. I’d personally like to believe it’s a real piece.

For anyone interested, BBC Fake Britain did a piece on the Star Wars figure scam.

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@Kaz Hayashi How much does a in box Ludvig Borga go for these days? I ask because someone offered the bloke who ran the toy stall in Job Lot in Sunderland 50 quid for Ludvig back in 1995 when he was on display (not for sale.) And when the stall moved into its own shop in the town centre, "The Finnish Hellraiser" was came along with them and remained there until about 2012. I always wondered if he done the right thing holding onto him for so long or if he missed the peak price of Tony Halme's 4 incher.

Until a year ago, fucking loads, but the green cards have come down in price. An Asian seller has randomly had access to a big batch of green cards due to knowing someone who worked for Hasbro blah blah, flooded the market with them and brought the price down a bit.

Saying that mint on card still fetch a few quid. £140 - £150 as a general rule of thumb based on eBay and private sales. Loose I’d say £60 is about average at present. They go for more in mainland Europe for some reason. Been selling for around £90 in Germany.